7 replies to this topic

[Jono9304]

Hello all, I guess this question may decide opinion. My daughter just won a mini on eBay for a good price, with the intention to do a vtec conversion. It turns out to be a mini 30 with half leather seats etc, the body is in bad shape, with plenty of rust, it’s a red one with the A+ engine. Now I know it’s a 30 with good seats I just wondered the value once restored as a 30, rather than a vtec, With only 3000 made seems a shame to loose its originality if it’s rear? Any thoughts? Thanks for reading,

[Designer]

Hi Jono9304 welcome to the forum.

 

I am not an expert at all on the value of Minis or any other car for that matter.

We recently took out a classic insurance policy on my Daughter's 1988 Limited Edition Austin Mini Designer (Mary Quant) for an agreed value of £9,000.00. She is basically as original except that she sports front and rear Bull Bars and an additional door mirror on the passenger door. Not sure if the sunroof was original spec or an option. Her engine is good and her body work is also good, just a couple of small rust spots that will get sorted when the weather is warmer. 71,000 miles on the clock with only two owners, my daughter owning her for the last 28 years.

She could be worth more than that but I would need to take her to an expert in Mini valuing. 

 

 

It sounds as though you will be doing a lot of work on the  30 whichever way you go so my advice to you would be to invest the large sum of £5.00 and become a TMF+ member so that you get the 71/2% discount on purchases at Minispares. It will be worth it.

Edited by Designer, 14 January 2024 - 04:16 PM.

[stuart bowes]

I say do whatever you want with it. you can always take the vtec out again later and change it back.., if vtec was always the plan then go for it as long as it ends up being built well and it's all safely done and doesn't just end up as an unfinished project due to technical difficulties or whatever ( I don't know what your abilites are no offence or anything,)

 

to me the only real 'valuable' ones are the really old ones, or anything with a real heritage back story of some sort. arguably coopers as well to some extent but there's no real shortage is there

 

A rebuilt 30 isn't going to suddenly be worth 20 grand, no

 

rover made loads of 'special editions' it was just a way to shift stock really. other than pretty seats and a name on the side they're not really very different..  that's just my possibly slightly cynical opinion not trying to insult anyone's car or anything 

 

at the end of the day you started out wanting a fun project, you didn't pay loads for it by the sounds of it, have fun with it, there's endless rows and rows of 'original' mini's already just go to any show and see 

 

just my opinion others are welcome to disagree

Edited by stuart bowes, 14 January 2024 - 06:43 PM.

[mab01uk]

The Mini 30 is generally thought to be the best of the Anniversary Special Edition Minis as it had a very good spec compared to the others.

Link below shows a low mileage example which sold for £14,995.....however a good restoration cost could easily exceed that so as said the choice is yours.

https://www.rwclassi...-coming-soon-2/

 

Also make sure you talk to other Vtec Mini owners before starting a conversion and if possible drive one to check it is what you really want.

[coopertaz]

like with any limited edition try to do mods that can be reversed, I'm fitting a turbo conversion to my black one but using saab turbo so i dont cut into bulkhead and removeable steel front so wings can always be refitted. don't forget also that the wheels are different with lug holes in a different place to later cooper ones. the value now doesn't reflect what they may be worth in the future and genuine ones obviously are not made .For example how many standard base models do you see as we cut them all about when they were plentiful

[bpirie1000]

Nothing else to do but buy another mini for your daughter.

You restore the 30 and convert the other one into the vehicle vtec..

[stuart bowes]

thinking again it seems to me there's two different ways defining 'value'

 

if you mean 'will I make a profit from it, because it's special' then as already said above you have to weigh in the cost of the work to get it back to mint condition, in which case no probably not (or at least not a lot)

 

if you meant is it worth getting back to good condition because it's special and the car 'deserves' to be restored and you don't mind either breaking even or making a loss to achieve that, then yeah maybe depending on your opinion

 

another option could be to sell it on at cost to someone who would value it, and look for another one you'd feel less guilty about messing about with

[johnR]

if it was the last of it's type I'd say preserve it, but as there are others I say do what you'll get the most fun out of! carpe deum!